Quantified Student wins 2017 ICTalent Awards

Quantified Student wins 2017 ICTalent Awards Fontys School of ICT

The fifth edition of the ICTalent Awards was organised by Fontys University of Applied Sciences ICT on Thursday 18 May 2017. The auditorium of building R5 at Fontys campus Rachelsmolen had again been converted into a genuine ICTalent arena, with accompanying light & sound projections, video productions and decorations. A great experience for the approx. 250 visitors and eight participating teams. Eventually, Quantified Student was named the winner of ICTalent 2017.

Quantified student: by and for students
Quantified Student (the name of the team and the product) was realised by six by Delta students. They are taking an excellence programme at Fontys University of Applied Sciences ICT. Based on personal data of a student (in combination with public data) they realised a dashboard (app) where students get personal advice to get the maximum out of their student life and performance. For instance, does the student sleep enough to be able to perform optimally? All this is measured via Quantified Student. It enables the student to reflect on his own behaviour. Big data, biometric data and analytics play a central role.

Bram Snoek, one of the project members of Quantified Student gave the two-minute pitch. "My heartrate was almost 130 when the winner was announced. It was extremely exciting. It’s amazing when your name is called!" And the future? "We really believe that Quantified Student can change how people look at the future. With this focus we can realise our vision: in 2021 each Fontys student will use Quantified Student."

Viral Award and Audience Award
B-Magister was the audience’s favourite and won the 2017 Audience Award. They got the most audience votes. RuXup received the Viral Award 2017. Within 24 hours they had acquired the most Likes via Facebook with their project video: the video went viral.

ICTalent Awards
ICTalent Awards is the competitive showcase of Fontys University of Applied Sciences ICT that’s all about proud sharing. Students of all subjects get the chance to show their best work to, among others, teachers, media, Partners in Education, fellow students, visitors of Dutch Technology Week and other interested parties. They do this through two-minute pitches. After two exciting preliminary rounds, eight participants were selected. They battled each other on 18 May for the coveted ICTalent Award and a cheque worth €2,000 euro per person.

Final ICTalent
When the eight participants had pitched their idea, the Partners in Education (companies cooperating with Fontys University of Applied Sciences ICT) were present in the room to vote for their favourite participant. The three groups with the most votes eventually directly opposed each other before an expert jury, consisting of Ellen Minkels (aMate Communications), Alex Otten (Estate) and René Speelman (Sogeti). The three teams that had made it to the final were: Show Up, Guardian and Quantified Student. After the jury had questioned each group for three minutes, they eventually chose Quantified Student as winner of the 2017 ICTalent Awards.

Proud sharing at the forefront
Ad Vissers, principal of Fontys University of Applied Sciences ICT, emphasised how valuable it is to teach students to recognise their own talents. "The ICTalent is important to teach students to be proud. Studying can be exciting, studying can be fun," according to Ad Vissers. The organisation also looks back with a great sense of satisfaction. "The level of participants was very high this year. It’s great to see how the participants develop in the process: from preliminary round to the pitch on the stage in a crowded room. They really exude proudness. It’s also nice to see how teachers, but also parents, for instance, share that proud feeling. That’s what it’s all about: proud sharing with each other and celebrating successes. At Fontys University of Applied Sciences ICT great things are realised that deserve a stage," says Maartje van Hees, project manager ICTalent Awards.